Doha Summit 2025

The event will enable UN Member States to renew their commitment to progress towards social justice and announce concrete measures. The text of the World Social Summit political declaration covers a wide range of topics related to the fight against poverty and inequality: https://social.desa.un.org/fr/world-summit-2025/documents. 

The text includes a focus on three areas of action: the fight against poverty, productive employment and decent work, and social cohesion/integration. With a focus on several themes:

•    Food security and nutrition

•    Physical and mental health/universal health coverage

•    Use of technology and artificial intelligence

•    Quality education and vocational training

•    Climate resilience and just transition

•    Disaster risk reduction

•    Gender equality and empowerment of women and girls

•    Combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and protecting human rights

•    Adequate housing, urbanization, water and sanitation, etc.

•    Migration

Reducing inequalities and promoting inclusion - Activity report 2024 

From research to action for a fairer green transition

While global inequality had been declining before the COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic has caused the sharpest rise in inequality in 30 years. In 2024, 92% of the world's population will live in countries where inequality remains moderate or high. And by 2030, more than 600 million people, 80% of them in sub-Saharan Africa, will still be living in extreme monetary poverty. 

In a context of “multiple crises” (economic, social, climate, and geopolitical) that undermine social cohesion and threaten prospects for improving living conditions, the AFD Group has made reducing inequality and promoting inclusion a central pillar of its action, with its new cross-cutting Social Cohesion Roadmap (2025-2030).

This approach will be applied across all operations and will be broken down into two cross-cutting objectives: reducing multidimensional inequalities and promoting inclusion, and promoting gender equality with a transformative feminist approach. 

Three levers are particularly sought after to reduce inequalities and promote inclusion:

•  Supporting inclusive and redistributive public policies: support for public policies aimed at reducing inequalities and promoting inclusion in the social and environmental sectors, support for redistributive fiscal and budgetary policies, financing of infrastructure projects providing access to quality services in disadvantaged areas and benefiting disadvantaged and/or underserved populations.

•    Strengthen the fairness dimension of ecological transitions

•    Mainstream the consideration of inequalities and inclusion in all sectors

This commitment translates into a clear objective: to achieve and maintain, by 2026, 50% of projects that include an ambition to reduce inequalities, promote the inclusion of disadvantaged populations, and strengthen social cohesion, whether as a primary or secondary objective. This ambition will be re-discussed, enhanced, and rolled out at the level of each Group entity (AFD, Expertise France, and Proparco) until 2029.

In 2024, AFD committed €4.5 billion to finance 110 projects aimed at reducing inequalities and promoting inclusion, representing 49% of approved projects (in terms of number). In 2024, 50% of projects targeting equality and inclusion are in Africa.

35% of new projects committed by Proparco in 2024 will contribute to reducing socio-economic or territorial inequalities.

45% of new projects signed by Expertise France in 2024 aim to contribute to reducing inequalities.

Discover all AFD sessions below: